So while I've been posting (and back-posting) all the cool things I've seen while out here at MICS, I haven't really explained to you what I've been doing out here at MICS. My bad. Here it goes.
There's two parts to this job: on land and on sea. So this post will try to explain a typical boat day. Although first disclaimer is that nothing, nothing, about this job is ever typical.
So first at the crack of dawn we have to check the weather. Wind and rain are the biggest factors, because one effects our ability to, you know, drive around and both effects our ability to, you know, see. If we get lucky, the wind is only going to get up to 20 knots (37 kph), and the rain might hold off until late afternoon, so we can go out!
We pack up tons of gear: camera, hydrophone, safety bag, life jackets, crossbow, biospy bag, faeces scooper, radio, GPS; and we drive down to the dock. Stick it all on on the boat, latch it down and drive off. If visibility is good, we start "survey mode" where we just stare out over the water and, well, survey. We note the time and position of any marine mammal we come across (seals, porpoises, dolphins, minke whales), but we are really looking for the bigg'uns: humpback, fin and blue whales.
First sad bit of my time here: no blues have been seen on the north shore in the past two years. They are all on the south shore. So no blues for me :(
Now, I've had to do surveys before. I'll harken you back to my time in Florida where I had to survey for dolphins. In those cases, you're looking for flashes of grey across the water, tiny dorsal fins moving quickly.
Not with these animals. With large baleen whales, you're looking for blow, or spout. These massive towers of water and mucus when the animal exhales out of the water. In blue whales, they can be as tall as 6m!
As soon as we see the blow, or any other evidence of the animal, we switch into "photo-ID mode". There, we get the camera out and try to take a decent photo of the animal. With humpbacks, it's about their dorsal fin and fluke. Fin whales, it's the chevron (a swirling pattern just after their blowhole on the top of their head) and dorsal fin. In blue whales, it's the front part before their dorsal fin and their dorsal. We try not to follow them too much, because we don't want to bug them, but most of the data collected isn't worth much if we don't know who the individual is.
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| Humpback whales |
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| North Pacific white-sided dolphin |
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| North Pacific white-sided dolphin |
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| Humback whale |
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| Minke whale |
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| Humpback |
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| Fin whale |
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| Fin whale |
Also in photo-ID mode, we sometimes take biopsies. This is a little piece of skin and blubber that we can analyse for genetic information, sex determination and contaminant levels. The biopsies are taken with a biopsy arrow, shot using a crossbow. The only reason I learned how to shoot a gun was to prep for biopsies!
It sounds scary and painful, but for these massive creatures, it's like a mosquito bite. Studies show that on average, they don't react to the biopsy and I don't even think there has ever been an occurrence of the "wound" getting infected. So for the amount of data we can get out of them, they are very much worth the effort.
Usually I take the notes on the boat, time and position of events and the species we see or deal with. I have had practice driving the boats, although I'm still nervous to try anything over a sea state of 2. I haven't had the chance to take any legit photos, but the end of the season this year is unusually poor weather and few whales, so the opportunity has been slim.
I'm still being really positive about it though. This is more than I have ever dreamed it to be, and these animals are more than I could have ever imagined. I sometimes worry that with all the build up I'll bet disappointed, but today is not that day.
The days can be long, about 8 hours on the boat, although that's really an average day, the longest days being about 12-12.5 hours. But I compare it to other jobs, and even in the worst sea states with the rain and the wind and no whales anywhere, it's still better than a desk job. Every day of the week.
Speak Loud!
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